Chicago News
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A national search is underway for the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department — but it won’t be former Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck.
“I don’t just love cops, I am cops,” Interim CPD Supt. Charlie Beck tells reporters.[Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
Beck made his Chicago debut Friday at City Hall, alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the man he will replace on an interim basis in January, CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson.
Beck took himself out of the running for permanently taking the $260,044-a-year job, telling reporters that he had asked his wife and the “answer was no.”
Beck promised to “stick to his word” and not seek to stay on permanently, but would instead try to make Chicago a safer city.
“This is a great opportunity for me to make a difference in a big city that I think is a beautiful city that has so much opportunity for progress,” Beck said. “I didn’t take this to fill a resume or to make money or any of that. I took this because this is my calling. This is what I do.”
Lightfoot said the permanent superintendent may well be chosen from within the CPD’s ranks.
“We have great talent in our department,” Lightfoot said.
While former Mayor Rahm Emanuel went around the Police Board to tap Johnson to take the reins of the Chicago Police Department in 2015, Lightfoot said she would follow the rules.
Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman — who served as the board’s No. 2 when Lightfoot was president — said the nationwide search would begin immediately. The board is charged with selecting three finalists, and submitting them to the mayor to make a final pick.
Lightfoot said Beck was the “perfect interim selection for what Chicago needs at this moment.”
Lightfoot has appointed three members of the nine-member board: Paula Wolff, John P. O’Malley Jr. and Matthew C. Crowl. Wolff and O’Malley were first appointed by Emanuel.
Lightfoot cast Beck as a leader in the mold of Johnson — a patrol officer who rose to the highest rank after decades of service. Beck, who became a police officer in 1977, became LAPD chief in in 2009 and retired in June 2018.
“This department can be the change,” Beck said. “This department can be the glue that binds the city together, and not the powder that tears it apart.”
Beck called Johnson a friend several times during the half-hour news conference, and said he would continue his legacy and rely on his expertise.
Johnson returned the compliment, lauding Beck as a standup law enforcement officer.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35) tweeted that Beck assured aldermen he would not apply for the permanent job. Ramirez Rosa said he would not support Beck as a permanent chief, citing his record in Los Angeles.
Lightfoot vowed to pick “the best person for the foreseeable future,” Lightfoot said in an interview with the Sun-Times Friday.
The next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department must have experience running a “big and complicated” organization who can “motivate the troops” and “understands the value of constitutional policing.” -
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NOV 08, 2019
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NOV 08, 2019
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Police Supt. Eddie Johnson will end his 31-year career with the Chicago Police Department at the end of the year, but the probe into what happened before — and after — he was discovered asleep in his running car just after midnight Oct. 17 will continue, the city’s watchdog said Thursday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot embraces Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson. [Chicago Mayor's Office]
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NOV 08, 2019
Some local Democratic Party leaders are vowing to boycott a meeting scheduled to fill a Northwest Side state house vacancy if ousted former State Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) has any part in choosing his own successor.
Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30) fields reporters questions. [AD Quig/The Daily Line]
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Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners Executive Director Lance Gough had a surprise for aldermen as he appeared for the annual budget hearing for the agency charged with running Chicago’s elections.
“The Board of Elections has been good to me,” said Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners Executive Director Lance Gough. “I’m leaving the organization better than I found it. It’s time.” [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
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Three aldermen renewed their push on Thursday to hike the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 and end exceptions for tipped workers like restaurant servers.
Flanked by Ald. David Moore (17), left, and Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35), right, Ald. Sophia King (4) said tipped workers should be paid $15 an hour before tips. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
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As multiple federal investigations continue to roil Springfield, Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday called for state law to be changed to require those who lobby state lawmakers to disclose how much they are paid — and suggested that Chicago’s rules could be a template for the changes.
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NOV 07, 2019
UNLOCKEDThree developments — all approved within the last year — will nearly triple the number of affordable units produced under the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance since it went into effect in 2007, according to data released by the Chicago Department of Housing on Thursday.
Developers have yet to break ground on the River District, The 78 and Lincoln Yards mega-projects. But if the builders follow through on their commitments to the city, their projects are set to collectively create 2,700 units of on-site or off-site affordable housing, eclipsing the 1,046 affordable units whose construction the evolving housing ordinance has forced to date. -
The tentative agreement that ended an 11-day strike by the Chicago Teachers Union will cost the Chicago Public School district $33 million in 2020, officials announced Tuesday.
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates and President Jesse Sharkey answer reporters questions. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
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A set of “compromise” language added to the county’s Just Housing Ordinance on Tuesday may not be enough to end the tumultuous rulemaking process that has kept the law in limbo since commissioners overwhelmingly passed it in April.
Tom Benedetto, legislative analyst with the Chicagoland Apartment Association, urges commissioners to give landlords more leeway in denying rental applications. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]
Luis Arroyo
